As an entrepreneur, you’ll put every fibre of your being into your business. You will nurture it along the business life cycle, through great highs and challenging lows as it grows and evolves.
Here at Harper James, we’re on our own journey. Having grown from a start-up to a scale-up with 100+ employees without any outside investment, we realise the importance of sharing our experience and learning from others to prepare for what’s to come.
Cue our new report: How entrepreneurs ride the ups and downs of the business life cycle.
For this inaugural report, we surveyed 251 business owners and senior leaders, powered by Sapio Research, and mapped out the different stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle to reveal their level of confidence and ambitions, as well as the pain points and hurdles they encounter along the way.
Where are you in your journey?
| Here are some key findings by stage: | |
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The big idea – owners at this stage in their life cycle are the most confident about their business prospects at this time (89%) and it outranks those at all the other stages
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| Getting started – nearly three-quarters (73%) of this group are confident that they will reach their end game. While 54% are self-funded, 33% say access to funding is the greatest barrier to progression
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Getting on with it – 85% at this stage are confident about their business prospects, however, challenges include increasing prices (42%), recruiting the right people (33%) and managing or reducing costs (30%)
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| Scaling-up – businesses at this stage are most confident of all, with 84% fully expecting to achieve their business end game – and nearly half (48%) are self-funded at this stage
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Exit – confidence dips a little at the exit stage compared to others, with 53% feeling confident about their business prospects right now and 61% believe they’ll achieve their end game
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Read and reflect
The purpose of the report is to provide a moment of reflection for entrepreneurs along their journey and reassurance that others are going through similar ups and downs at each life cycle stage. It also offers insights into future considerations they might need to think of to reach their business end game.
Complete the form to access your free copy:
